Land Commission surveys owners on community engagement

Owners and managers of land in Scotland are being asked to take part in a survey on the level of community engagement when decisions are taken relating to the land.

The survey is being run by the Scottish Land Commission, which supports clear and open community engagement in decisions relating to land as bringing benefits to all parties involved and creating better opportunities to engage, understand and influence potential change.

Earlier this year the Commission published its first Protocol on Community Engagement in Decisions Relating to Land (click here for news report). The protocol supports the guidance on engaging communities in decisions relating to land, published by the Scottish Government in April 2018. The Commission wants to review the effectiveness of the guidance by taking a snapshot of how community engagement is currently undertaken in Scotland, in order to measure the effectiveness of community engagement by those who own or manage land.

Helen Barton, community engagement adviser at the Commission explained: “We want to hear from anyone with control over the way land is used or managed in both urban and rural Scotland. The survey is relevant for all private and public sector owners of land and buildings, including individuals, companies, charities and trusts, non-governmental organisations and community owners. It is also relevant to tenants of any sort who have control over land.

“The information provided will not include any personal identifying information and we will collate and analyse the responses to see where there are trends by area and sector.

“It is important to get an idea of what community engagement is happening now to not only use as a baseline measure but also to see if there are any lessons we can learn from current practices.”

Click here to access the survey. It will be open for responses until the end of May 2019.